Rotary marking tools



Filed Sept. 14, 1960 FIGZ FIG.\

INVENTOR, JEROME FRIEDMAN ATTORNEY.

" niteci States The present invention relates to rotary marking tools and more particularly to the type employing a marking wheel which is brought to bear against a rotating piece of work to make its impression thereon. Upon completion of the marking operation and withdrawal of the marking tool from the work, the marking wheel automatically returns to an initial start position. To accomplish this, the marking wheel is spring-loaded and a suitable releasable spring-biased stop means is included to prevent reverse rotation of the marking wheel from its finish position until the tool is Withdrawn from the work.

Various devices of this class heretofore attempted, were cumbersome and intricate in construction and costly to produce. Their springs and other parts which needed replacement and adjustment from time to time, necessitated considerable dismantling and the subsequent reassembly.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a novel and improved rotary marking tool of the character mentioned, which is made up of a minimum of parts of simple construction and reasonable cost, requiring but a single spring to properly bias the marking wheel and its associated stop means simultaneously; provision being made for said spring to be constantly maintained in proper form and position to serve to accomplish its multiple functions.

In various manufacturing procedures, after the work is marked with a tool of the kind herein set forth, it becomes necessary to trim the work to make all the work pieces of uniform length. So heretofore, the machine carrying the marking tool, had a separately operable slide, carrying a trimming tool to be applied to the work.

Since in the use of the marking tool, its marking wheel is already in contact with the work, it is another object of this invention to provide a trimming or cut-oft tool on the marking tool, so that cut-off could take place immediately at the completion of the marking operation, by means of a slight additional movement of the marking tool. This accomplishes an appreciable saving in time and simplifies the machine equipment for making the product.

In this respect, it is a further object of this invention to have the cut-off tool rigidly mounted on the marking wheel carrier and shielded from the work except when the marking wheel is at finish position, whereupon said cut-off tool becames exposed for action.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel and improved rotary marking tool and the optionally included cut-off tool which is easy to use, simple to assemble, disassemble, replace or change parts therein and which is efficient in carrying out the various purposes for which it is designed.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as this disclosure proceeds.

For the practice of this invention, one form it may assume is to have a block to be securely held on a slide rest of a machine designed to operate on a rotating piece of Work. On a vertical face of this block, there is rotatably mounted a marking wheel on a shaft presenting a grooved pulley against the exposed face of said wheel. That region of the periphery of the wheel which has the marking characters thereon, is of a uniform radius greater than the radius of the rest of said marking wheel. The means to prevent reverse rotation of the marking wheel when it has reached finish position, may be a pawl, which at such position of the wheel, engages a notch in the peassess? Patented Aug. 22, 1961 riphery of such wheel, or for a cheaper construction and which requires no cutting of a notch in the marking wheel, may be a cam lock engaging the Wheels periphery. A single coil spring has one of its ends anchored to the Wheel near said pulley and its other end anchored to the stop means, so that upon rotation of said wheel during the marking operation, said spring is stressed in tension, winds itself part way around the pulley and biases said wheel to return to start position and simultaneously biases said stop means against the marking wheel. A pin extending through the thickness of the marking wheel and laterally from each face thereof, cooperates with a screw in the block for setting the initial start position of the wheel; said pin also serving as the anchorage for the spring end to said wheel. To provide this device with a cut-off trimming tool, when such is desired, such cutter may be a disc having a suitably sharpened perimeter, positioned on the shaft of the marking wheel intermediate said wheel and mounting block and fixed to the latter against rotation. The radius of said cutting disc is of a size between that of the marking section of the marking wheel and that of the remainder of said marking wheel, so that at finish position of the marking wheel, the disc cutter is exposed and in position to cut into the work upon slight further movement of the slide rest carrying the marking tool. Hence in a single operational movement, the work is both marked and trimmed. Now upon reverse movement of said slide rest to move the marking tool away from the work, an element fixed to the machines frame, shifts the pawls or cam locks as the case may be, thereby releasing the marking wheel whereupon due to action of the spring, said marking wheel will automatically return to its initial start position, thereby readying the tool for the next piece of work.

I will now set forth a detailed description of preferred forms of my invention.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a rotary marking tool embodying the teachings of this invention. The marking wheel is shown at start position and of course all the other parts are shown as they are then. Also included in this view is the optional cut-off means.

FIG. 2 is an end view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal view of the marking wheel shaft having a pulley for the coil spring to follow upon.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the tool shown in FIG. 1, but here, the marking wheel is at finish position. All the other parts are as they are then. The cut-off blade is in position and exposed to serve.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary front view of a modified construction of a rotary marking tool shown at start position.

In the drawing, the numeral '15 indicates generally a combined rotary marking tool with a trimming cutter for operation on a rotating piece of work which might be a thin tubular structure as for instance, a lip stick case 16, revolving in the direction indicated by the arrow A, which in lathe machinery, would be downward with respect to the front of the machine, which is to the right in FIG. 1. Here, the tools frame block '17 would be secured on a slide rest (not shown) of such machine, so that the tool 15 engages the back of the work piece 16. At a vertical face of said block 17 which serves as the tools shank, there is a rotatably mounted marking wheel indicated generally by the numeral 18, on a stud shaft denoted generally as 19, which presents the pulley 20 on the exposed face of said marking wheel. This wheel 18 extends forwardly of the forward end of the shank 17, has a peripheral section with marking characters 21 u) thereon for engraving into the work piece 16, and the remainder of its periphery is of reduced radius. At a proper position, said marking wheel has a notch 22 in its periphery to be engaged by the pawl 23 which is pivotally mounted on the shank 17 and held in engagement with the periphery of said marking wheel which is of said reduced radius, by the tension coil spring 24; one end of such spring being anchored on a pin 25 extending from said pawl and its other end anchored to a pin 26 which extends through said marking wheel and laterally from both faces of such wheel. Said pin 26 is adjacent the pulley 20, and when the marking wheel 18 is turned, the spring will wind part way on such pulley as shown in FIG. 5. The pin 26, at start position of the marking Wheel, is up against the screw 27 which is threadedly engaged in the shank 17, and serves to adjust said start position. The forward end of the shank 17 is cut away from the bottom up, to accommodate the interception of said pin 26 by the screw 27. A stop pin 28 to limit the pawl 23 in its movement about the axis 34, and a stop formed at 35 on the shank 17, to intercept the pin 26 at or a bit beyond finish position of the marking wheel 18, are also provided in the embodiment illustrated. Also, if desired, a trimming cutter may be included, as for instance by having a suitable cutting disc 30 fixed to the shank 17 by the screws 31. Such cutting disc has a central hole and is mounted on the stud shaft 19, intermediate the shank 17 and the marking wheel 18; the radius of such disc being of a size which is between that of the marking wheel and the reduced section of said marking wheel.

Instead of using the pawl 23 and the notch 22, another way to hold the marking wheel 18 at finish position, is to have the eccentrically mounted disc or cam 32 rotatable at 33 on the lever 34 which is pivotally mounted on the shank at 35. This cam, due to action of the spring 23, engages the periphery of the reduced section of the marking wheel and locks said wheel against return uitil the lever 34 is shifted at the end of the operation. It is evident that while the marking wheel 18 is moving towards finish position, the cam 32 will be held against rtation by the pin 36 bearing up against the lever 34. But any attempt of said wheel to return to start position will be ineffective because the cam 32 will be turned to securely engage the marking wheel and hold it against return movement. Operation of this cam is noiseless.

One manner of use of the tool 15 is to mount the shank 17 thereof in a proper secured manner on the cross feed of a lathe, with the marking characters 21 of the marking wheel 17, nearest the work 16 rotating With the lathes chuck. When the tool is advanced to the work so that the marking characters will bear with pressure into the work, the marking wheel will be turned a part of a revolution, whereupon the spring 2 will be stretched and hence stressed while it becomes wound part way around the pulley 24 The marking wheel 18 will of course stop when the marking operation is completed because of the relief at 36 in the marking wheel; no reverse rotary movement of the marking wheel being permitted due to the action of either the pawl 23 which is then engaged in the notch 22, or the locking action of the cam 32 on said wheel.

An element fixed on the frame of the lathe, in the path of the element 23 or 34 when the tool is withdrawn from the work 16, serves to shift the pawl or cam, and thus free the marking wheel 13, which now is forced to return to start position by action of the stressed spring 24. Said wheel will go back until the pin 26 is against the tip of the adjustment screw 27. Adjustment of said screw will of course alter the normal rest start position of the marking wheel 13. The stop element on the lathe to trip the element 23 or 34, is well known practice in the machine art and therefore needs no further illustration.

When the cut-off disc 30 is included in this device, it is to -be noted that its cutting edge is shielded from the work 16 while any part of the marking section of the marking wheel is in contact with the work, but becomes exposed at 36 for action on the work, at the completion of the marking operation. So now, by a slight further movement of the tool 15 in the direction it was moved to mark, said cutter disc 30 is brought into engagement with the work piece to trim it.

It is of importance to note that the main function of the pulley 20 is to make the spring 24 do its job properly. Said spring is called upon in this device to automatically return the marking wheel 18 from its finish position shown in FIG. 5, to its start initial rest position as shown in FIG. 1. Said pulley really acts to keep said spring from assuming a dead center position across the axis of rotation of the marking wheel and to continue increasing the tension in such spring, the further said wheel rotates. If the spring were allowed to cross the axis of the marking wheel, then though in stressed condition, when the marking wheel is freed to turn by action of such spring, might not be as is required, because the wheel may then be turned in either direction. Holding said tension coil spring 24 away from said wheel axis, makes it function as a torsion spring. Further, it permits a single spring to simultaneously serve for automatic Wheel return and for the wheel movement stop operation, and any stock coil spring of proper size and strength may be used.

The tool 15 as illustrated herein, is of a size and form particularly adaptable for use on the cross slide of what is designated in the trade as the OOG Browne & Sharp screw machine. Note the bore 37 which is provided for such adaptation, and that all parts carried on the shank or block 17, are above the bottom edge of said member. The shank of course, may be made of any dimension and shape as may be required for any particular installation.

This invention is capable of numerous forms and various applications without departing from the essential features herein disclosed. It is therefore intended and desired that the embodiments shown herein shall be deemed merely illustrative and not restrictive and that the patent shall cover all patentable novelty herein set forth; reference being had to the following claims rather than to the specific description herein to indicate the scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. In a marking wheel of the character described, the combination of a shank, a marking wheel rotatably mounted on and extending beyond one end of said shank; said wheel having marking elements along part of its periphery and a region of said wheel immediately after the end of the last marking element, being of reduced radius, cooperating means on said shank and wheel to hold said wheel at a start position on the shank, against rotation in the direction from the last towards the first marking element when the start of the first marking element is at a predetermined location in relation to said shank when said marking wheel is at a position where such first marking element is beyond said end of the shank, means movably mounted on the shank, biased to bear against said marking wheel and acting to lock said wheel against rotation in said direction at least when the end of the last marking element is at said predetermined location, a tension coil spring anchored at its first end to said marking wheel and at its second end to another part of the tool, and a spacing member on said tool, holding said coil spring spaced from the axis of rotation of said marking wheel when said wheel is rotated, whereby on turning said marking wheel from start position, said Spring will be stretched and thereby stressed and upon moving said means to release the marking wheel, said spring will automatically contract and return the marking wheel to its initial start position on the shank.

2. A tool as defined in claim 1, wherein said spring serves also to bias said locking means to bear against the marking wheel; the second end of said spring being anchored to said locking means.

3. A tool as defined in claim 1, wherein the spacing member is a pulley positioned ooaxially with the marking wheel; said spring winding itself part way around and on said pulley when the marking wheel is turned from start position.

4. A tool as defined in claim 1, including a cutter carried on the tool, extending beyond said end of the shank and the cutting edge of said cutter becoming exposed when the reduced region of the marking wheel is at said predetermined location.

5. A tool as defined in claim 1, including a cutting disc fixed to the shank in a position coaxial with the marking wheel; the radius of said disc being of a size References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,875,278 Tanner Aug. 30, 1932 2,583,521 Temple Jan. 22, 1952 2,610,576 Norris Sept. 16, 1952 

